Gemspot

Higgs - into the heart of imagination

http://www.idfa.nl/industry/Festival/program-2009/festival-schedule/film.aspx?id=57cc772d-21ef-476e-ab8f-1d031b372932
quote
Synopsis
The Higgs particle is named after British physicist Peter Higgs, who postulated it, and it is generally viewed as the missing link in particle physics. The Higgs particle is also known, not uncontroversially, as "The God Particle": many scientists assume that it exists, even though it has never been observed. Since Higgs published his hypothesis in 1964, an ever-expanding army of physicists has been trying to develop a method of making the assumed particle visible. To make this possible, a powerful underground particle accelerator known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has been constructed in the CERN laboratory on the Franco-Swiss border. Thousands of scientists from all over the world looked on with bated breath at the launch of the LHC on September 10, 2008. In this documentary, Dutch professor Stan Bentvelsen and an international assembly of scientists discuss how fascinating and crucial the Higgs particle is, and how much it appeals to the scientific imagination. Their testimony, in combination with the footage of CERN, results in a film that is not concerned just with this one elusive particle -- a needle in a million haystacks -- but above all with the fundamental scientific drive to learn something new.

Producers synopsis
Higgs follows the quest for the 'Holy Grail of physics': the Higgs particle. To find this infinitesimally small speck of matter, thousands of scientists and technicians work on a gigantic accelerator in CERN, Switzerland. Higgs is expected to solve the mystery of the origin of mass. But until its discovery, it will remain a theory. The physicists at CERN work passionately to experimentally proof that Higgs is also an actual existing particle. Set against the backdrop of a stunning construction, each portrays, with imagination and creativity, their own Higgs particle. A film about building cathedrals, about dreams and passions, and about the heart of human imagination.
unquote

Subject: IDFA
>
> Dear Tejinder,
>
> At the ' International Documentary Festival Amsterdam' the film ' Higgs - into the heart
> of imagination' has been shown. You play a prominent and very convincing role in
> it! Congratulations. People have to pay to see you, and they do...
> It will be shown on Dutch national TV in February.
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Jos

http://cms.web.cern.ch/cms/Media/Publications/CMStimes/2009/11_23/index.html

quoted
Friday 20 November 2009

This issue describes two major milestones passed: as the analysis of cosmic ray muons from the 2008 CRAFT run reaches its conclusion, the CMS detector has recorded the first events from circulating beams as the LHC re-starts. Indeed you can follow the activities at point 5 here.

Beginning on Friday the 20th, the LHC accelerator team has recorded success after success, with CMS recording events with each step. As we go to press, we keep updating the article with more news!

Just in advance (not by coincidence), a collection of papers has been completed to document all the progress made in understanding the detector using 270 million cosmics recorded in autumn 2008.

In our interview, Bo Zhu and Haiyun Teng from Peking University describe their work on CMS hardware and analysis.

unquote

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/eureka/article6899505.ece

Press conference first collisions 24 November 2009

http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/1223965/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8375724.stm


Press Conference

Engineers operating the Large Hadron Collider have smashed together proton beams in the machine for the very first time.
The step was described as a "great achievement" for those working on the huge physics experiment.
Physicists Fabiola Gianotti, Tejinder Virdee, and the Director-General of Cern Rolf Heuer, explained what the process meant.

"Nature can surprise us... we have to be ready to detect anything it throws at us." said Tejinder Virdee, Spokespeson, CMS told BBC

Big Bang Atom Smasher Sends Beams in 2 Directions

The New York Times
Tejinder S. Virdee, a physicist from London's Imperial College who represents more than 2,000 scientists on CMS, another of the experiments with its own detectors at CERN, said it could take several years before the collider discovers the elusive Higgs boson, a particle that theoretically gives mass to other subatomic particles, and thus everything in the universe.

That is because the Higgs boson is believed to be hard to see and needs powerful energy to be revealed, Virdee said.

''This is going to take a few years,'' he said.

Taken from CERN website

Two circulating beams bring first collisions in the LHC


Geneva, 23 November 2009. Today the LHC circulated two beams simultaneously for the first time, allowing the operators to test the synchronization of the beams and giving the experiments their first chance to look for proton-proton collisions. With just one bunch of particles circulating in each direction, the beams can be made to cross in up to two places in the ring. From early in the afternoon, the beams were made to cross at points 1 and 5, home to the ATLAS and CMS detectors, both of which were on the look out for collisions. Later, beams crossed at points 2 and 8, ALICE and LHCb.

“It’s a great achievement to have come this far in so short a time,” said CERN1Director General Rolf Heuer. “But we need to keep a sense of perspective – there’s still much to do before we can start the LHC physics programme.”

Beams were first tuned to produce collisions in the ATLAS detector, which recorded its first candidate for collisions at 14:22 this afternoon. Later, the beams were optimised for CMS. In the evening, ALICE had the first optimization, followed by LHCb.

“This is great news, the start of a fantastic era of physics and hopefully discoveries after 20 years' work by the international community to build a machine and detectors of unprecedented complexity and performance," said ATLAS spokesperson, Fabiola Gianotti.

“The events so far mark the start of the second half of this incredible voyage of discovery of the secrets of nature,” said CMS spokesperson Tejinder Virdee.

“It was standing room only in the ALICE control room and cheers erupted with the first collisions” said ALICE spokesperson Jurgen Schukraft. “This is simply tremendous.”

“The tracks we’re seeing are beautiful,” said LHCb spokesperson Andrei Golutvin, “we’re all ready for serious data taking in a few days time.”

These developments come just three days after the LHC restart, demonstrating the excellent performance of the beam control system. Since the start-up, the operators have been circulating beams around the ring alternately in one direction and then the other at the injection energy of 450 GeV. The beam lifetime has gradually been increased to 10 hours, and today beams have been circulating simultaneously in both directions, still at the injection energy.

Next on the schedule is an intense commissioning phase aimed at increasing the beam intensity and accelerating the beams. All being well, by Christmas, the LHC should reach 1.2 TeV per beam, and have provided good quantities of collision data for the experiments’ calibrations.




1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.

First Images 20 November 2009


http://cms.web.cern.ch/cms/Media/Images/CirculBeamEvents/index.html

CMS is running stably, waiting for the beams to come back, which should happen soon.
about 3 hours ago from web

A night full of beam splashes for CMS. A few hours sleep for some of us (but not all!) and back to work..
about 8 hours ago from web

20 November 2009
Beam splashes should start arriving again at CMS soon, this time from the other direction.
about 15 hours ago from web

And now a big toast to Delia and Andre for the twin beams that they are expecting!
about 16 hours ago from web

20 November 2009
Captured circulating beams in both directions now!
about 16 hours ago from web

Check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/... amongst others
about 17 hours ago from web

Several hundred thousand turns. Now beam 2 starting. Can't keep up the tweets!
about 18 hours ago from web
Beam has made several turns all the way round LHC now!
about 20 hours ago from web

New splash events on http://cms.web.cern.ch/cms/...
about 20 hours ago from web

Beam has passed through CMS successfully!
about 22 hours ago from web

LHC Control Room just called: Beam is coming!
about 22 hours ago from web

We're waiting for the start of beam into LHC. Hopefully soon, and bound to go fast.
about 22 hours ago from web

From CERN DG: All being well, we’ll start injecting particles into the LHC tonight.
about 24 hours ago from web

LHC cryogenics were reestablished at 15:00. Beam will soon be injected into the LHC. CMS is ready and waiting!
about 24 hours ago from web

e-commentary, photos, images from "splash" events of 6/7 Nov available at http://cms.web.cern.ch/cms/...
6:48 AM Nov 20th from web

CMS prepares for "beam splash" mode by 15:00. LHC beams possible starting 17:00.
5:26 AM Nov 20th from web

An exciting weekend is in store, as the LHC restarts tomorrow and aims for first beam circulation.
9:01 AM Nov 19th from web

Starting a commentary on latest news from the CMS experiment at CERN. Follow in detail at http://cms.cern.ch
9:00 AM Nov 19th from web

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8369817.stm

LHC CMS on-line again
20 November 2009
Physics makes history once again

Enjoy Indian ice skating
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0IHQBBNMog&feature=player_embedded